What education IT leaders say is surprising/not surprising

Key Point:

Sometimes when you ask a question you get an answer that is both surprising and completely expected.

That's what happened when we surveyed education technology leaders. We weren't the people you might think of. Not entrepreneurs, investors, or pundits. Those are already well covered. Instead, late last year and early 2024, we surveyed information technology leaders in schools — the people in IT who make technology work. We asked people for whom innovation and disruption are on their to-do lists.

Our investigation was neither long nor overly detailed. They have enough to do with security threats, daily demands, and new developments.

Some of the answers surprised us, and might surprise you too, but if you take a step or two back and look at the bigger picture, many of the answers make perfect sense, and to be honest, that's why we asked the question.

The first response that fit the surprising/not surprising pattern came when we asked education IT leaders to think about all the technology combinations used in their schools and classrooms.

Perhaps it’s not surprising for many of us who work in schools that more than two-thirds of edtech practitioners said they’re not lacking in technology solutions. Of that number, the largest group said they’re fine with their current mix of tools, while the rest suggested they can’t figure out what it takes to fully understand how to use them all effectively.

If you think about it, this makes sense: The people who actually manage education technology have a tough job, they're pushed to the limits and feel underwater 10 times out of 10.

This conclusion was supported when we asked people what they most wanted from their schools and classrooms. This time, the answer was even more surprising: Most people didn't want more funding. Only 28 percent cited financial resources as their top wish. The most common answer was time. Our edtech teams wanted more time. 31 percent of respondents said that, above all else, they wanted more time to learn and implement the technology they already use or plan to use.

In response to the same question, 22 percent of respondents said they would like more training and support around their technology solutions, which is a matter of time. So if you combine the two directly – training and more time – it means the majority (53 percent) would rather have space and support, not money.

It's probably a surprise: when was the last time you heard an educator say, “We don't need more funding”? The answer should send a strong message about how seriously school IT leaders need the time and support to do their jobs, and how much they're willing to pay for it, no matter how much or how little.

To be clear, the IT leaders we surveyed aren't anti-technology. If they were, that would be really big news. In fact, when asked how they felt about education technology in general, an overwhelming 92 percent said that EdTech, when used appropriately, improves the quality of teaching and learning.

This level of support should be a reminder of where our schools, teachers, and technology professionals are right now: they love ed tech, but they clearly don't want more. And that says a lot.

What we see in our survey data echoes what we hear all the time from our clients and partners: technology is great for those who must execute, but pace and space are increasingly at odds.

We liken it to a self-serve sundae bar. The ice cream and all the toppings are great. But sometimes you need time to digest what you've taken in. Sometimes you have so much on your plate already that you can't even think about adding more. That's what the IT department at our school thinks. That's what they tell us.

For those of us working in education and education technology, the lesson is that we need to invest more in technology support, training, and management, especially for our IT heroes. They need the time and space to do the job we ask them to do before we ask them to do more. And we all need to spend time making the implementation and management of our technology as easy and painless as possible.

To be honest, I don't think that's too much to ask of ourselves. We all know that none of us can accomplish what we want to do without the support and consistency of our IT leaders. They are literally essential to the mission of every other education technology leader. It's time to ask them more questions, listen to their answers, and put them at the center of our planning and development.

Laura Ascione is the editorial director of eSchool Media. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland's prestigious Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

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